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Producers

Tom Bove

Tom Bove was born and grew up in Indiana, USA. In the summer of 1993, he and his wife were on a tour of France when they heard about a vineyard in the Var that was for sale.

Seduced by the architecture, history and soul of Miraval, and by his love of wine, Tom took on the challenge of revitalising this domaine. After convincing his US family to buy Miraval, he has spent the past 16 years on this vast project with the help of œnologue Emmanuel Gaujal, whose experience of the property over thirty five years proved invaluable. Later, Tom saw the great potential inherent in the vineyards of La Mascaronne which he acquired with a friend in 1999.

The wines of both Miraval and La Mascaronne receive accolades and critical acclaim on a regular basis and the rosés were Highly Recommended and Recommended respectively in the July 2009 edition of Decanter magazine.

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Dirk Human

Dirk Human (winemaker, viticulturist and passionate conservationist) is the 5th generation of his family to farm this land on the cool tip of Africa. Dirk established vineyards on the family farm, Moddervlei, in 1998 and the first bottling of this new South African wine from Elim was in 2003.

Situated on the coastal lowlands around the historical village of Elim (Cape Agulhas) on the southernmost tip of the African continent, this is one of the newest and most exciting wine regions in South Africa. It is here that the cool Atlantic Ocean meets the warmer Indian Ocean leading to a longer growing season characterized by strong, cool, summer winds which ensure perfect conditions for minerally Sauvignons and waxy Semillons. Red varietals too benefit from this unique microclimate, by producing elegant, fruity and well structures wines.

Since its first wines, Black Oystercatcher continues to impress the critics, most recently in the 2010 Platter Guide where it picked up 4 Stars for its Sauvignon Blanc, White Pearl (Semillon, Sauvignon) and Triton (Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot) wines.

Black Oystercatcher wine, a rare gem of the region, is aptly named after the endangered ocean birds that, through his conservationism, Dirk has helped thrive along the coastline. He is also a leading member of a group of local landowners on the verge of rehabilitating and preserving 44,000 ha of the Nuwejaars wetland system.

Platters Guide 2010

Sauvignon Blanc 2008 **** Retrained and minerally; gun-smoke, gooseberry complexity broadened by bottle-age hint. Beautiful now, should improve further. Amazing gravitas and persistence at just 12.5% alc.

White Pearl 2007 **** Masterly blend of part-oaked (35%, none new) white Bordeaux blend of Semillon and Sauvignon (80/20). Potential to become an SA benchmark. Poised, elegant, Semillon's lemon waxiness and refreshed by Sauvignon's zingy grassiness, lightly spiced under oak. Will reward cellaring.

Triton 2006 **** Aptly named three-way blend of Cabernet (65%), Shiraz (25%) and Merlot (10%.), the Bordeaux's varieties' cassis and plum dusted with Shiraz's spice and pepper. More focussed freshness with refined wood character (14 months in old French oak).

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James Kinglake

Catherine & James Kinglake searched high and low in the South of France looking for the perfect vineyard and in the process visited more than 50 vineyards from Gaillac to the Italian border. In the end it was a very easy decision to buy Domaine Begude. The fantastic terroir has been organically farmed for the last 25 years and has produced wine since the 16th century, a modern winery onsite, a wonderful mas that was ripe for renovation and the most jaw-droppingly beautiful views of the Pyrenees and the Corbieres.

Begude employs a French manager, Laurent Girault who is originally from Cognac and has made wine as far a field as at Rippon Vineyard in Central Otago in New Zealand, and 2 local workers, Vincent Boutin & Driss Yousfi. Also on the payroll is Richard Osborne, the renowned Australian winemaker based in the Languedoc. Overall a very young team whose driving ambition is to make excellent wine from long-established high quality terroir with a modern twist; in effect we are bridging the gap between New & Old World producing fresh, fruity, zesty wines reminiscent of the New World, but with the elegance of the Old World, all at very affordable prices.

Wine Spectator (Kim Marcus) - VDP d’Oc Chardonnay
Fresh and lively white, with pretty apple and tropical fruit flavors with some citrus notes adding zest on the finish.

Financial Times (Jancis Robinson) - AOC Limoux- L’Etoile de Begude
High altitude (350m) vineyards in south-west Languedoc translate into a particularly fine, refreshing Chardonnay. The Kinglakes are making some very fine special bottlings such as L’Étoile, which is a bargain alternative to Chassagne…

UK Daily Mail (Matthew Jukes) - AOC Limoux Classique
This is a cultured, elegant chardonnay & is produced by one of southern France’s most impressive winemaking operations… a terrific wine that has class oozing from the glass.

UK The Independent (Anthony Rose) - VDP d’Oc Pinot Rosé
An aromatic rosé with mouth-watering berry fruit flavours, delivers on value.

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Miles Mossop

Tokara winemaker Miles Mossop has been making wines very small quantities under his own eponymous label since 2004.

Miles has not one but two BSc degrees from the University of Stellenbosch and says "my winemaking philosophy is simple. Source grapes from exceptional vineyards, pick them at the correct time and help guide them through the natural process of winemaking. I try to achieve wines of finesse and elegance but still showing aspects of power and fruit concentration, having great texture while maintaining balance".

His first release, a Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend, is named after Saskia-Jo, Miles and Samantha's young daughter. The Chenin Blanc is sourced from 30 year old, unirrigated bushvines in Stellenbosch and the Viognier, grown on decomposed granite soils, is from the same vineyard used by Eben Sadie for Palladius.

Miles also released a red Bordeaux blend named Max after his son, who was born in 2005. His aim is to combine elegance, finesse and vibrant New World fruit to produce a wine which will reward cellaring, but can also be enjoyed in its youth. Cabernet Sauvignon, from slate soils in the Botteleray area of Stellenbosch, dominate the blend. It then gains increased complexity from Petit Verdot grown in the same region, but on gravely soils, along with Merlot sourced from the Banhoek Valley close by.

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Charles & Ruth Simpson

Charles and Ruth Simpson’s passion for wine and their desire to invest in an ‘emerging’ wine-producing area, rather than an area that was already well established, led them to the exciting and highly diverse French wine-producing region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

In the seven years that they have been at Sainte Rose the Simpsons have completely redesigned the winery, turning it into a state-of-the-art facility; they have gradually implemented major improvements in the vineyards, using environmentally sensitive farming techniques; and ultimately they have created a successful range of high-quality wines. Their goal was to produce authentic, affordable, hand-crafted wines of distinction, and their wine has so far been universally well-received by both the wine trade and the ultimate consumer.

Charles and Ruth are firm believers in sustainable agriculture and their ‘green’ credentials in the vineyards include the automation of weed control, thus phasing out the use of herbicide; the retention of organic matter in the soil through mowing rather than ploughing in between the rows of vines; and the use of only organically approved sprays during the growing season. The goal is to bring clean and healthy fruit into the winery, thus enabling a minimum intervention policy when making the wine. During the wine making process all waste water from the winery is collected and reused or treated by the local distillery. And never content to rest on their laurels, the latest project on the Domaine is to look at replacing one of the roofs of the winery with photovoltaic cells, which would help the Domaine move towards being a more 'carbon neutral' business.

Jancis Robinson: "This is a domaine that should be added to our list of Leading producers of the Languedoc Roussillon". On the Barrel Selection Roussanne - "Sainte Rose have quite a history of growing Roussanne – it used to be blended with Chardonnay in their Vent du Nord. Very creamy, flattering texture with a real spine of acidity, some ripe greengage flavours and real depth of flavour and persistence. There’s something distinctly verdant about this wine – followers of Ch de Beaucastel Blanc, Vieilles Vignes might be interested to see this junior version. The oaking has been done with a very gentle hand. Bravo!"